Rappan: They're really not from around here

Session 261 was played on 8/11/24

Nick, Fighter 7 (Me)
Borumar, ½ Orc Thief (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter (Lanse)
Morgana, wizard (Rob)
Koltic, Cleric 7 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)

The party descended the stairs down into the rancid pit. The rough stairs circle round and round, and open up at the bottom unto a weird worked stone(?) passage. In addition to the rancid smell, a gibberish noise can be heard, and just as the last of the party steps into the hall, the bell that the blue lord warned the party about sounds, and the gibberish gets louder and faster.

There’s no real choice on where to go, so the party follows the hall and the noise. The hall opens to a heptagonal chamber with a black obelisk in the center of it. 2 other exits head out of the room, one open, the other blocked by a weird metal wire lattice. The spidery writing on the obelisk is intriguing, but the chanting gibberish is more pressing, and of course its coming from the blocked passage. Thankfully the party quickly discovers that the wires can be yanked out of the wall with a little effort. They make a hole big enough to pass through.

The long passage opens up into a hexagonal chamber with a large pool of steaming bubbling green… goo? Surrounding the pool, waving their tentacles, are 4… things. Standing far too tall, and adhering to no known anatomy anyone in the party had ever seen. Koltic blessed the party and casts Striking on Borumar before Morgana opened things with a fireball. The flames only fully engulfed one of the aliens. Another was burned, but the other 2 the flames failed to touch. The magic bent around them! Combat was joined.  With well practiced skill, they focused on the most injured of the aliens first. Lor’Koth is the first to drop from the alien’s mighty swings. Not only did the tentacles hurt, but they yanked various senses from the party. The loss of the sense of smell/taste was actually a blessing given the rancid smell from the pool… Burumar’s enhanced striking is dispelled as he got into melee range.. After Lor’Koth, Nick, Morgana, Blotto, and then Borumar all fall. Koltic spends the entire battle running from body to body giving them the Water of Life and getting them back on their feet, and as he wasn’t a direct threat, the aliens to their detriment ignored him.

While the party defeated the aliens, it was a desperately close thing. Another round, or another alien, and it would have been a TPK.

Gains:
Kills: 4 alien things
Losses: